Chapter 8 – How Do I Help You?

Fuck.

Keeping a hold of Sakura, he yanked her away from the sobbing mess of a girl against the lockers. A girl Sakura had just beaten the shit out of for badmouthing her. Usually, she would ignore whatever they had to say – didn't pay it any mind. But not today. It was like something snapped, like she couldn't control her actions any longer. Ino's pushing hadn't helped in the slightest, either. Instead of telling Sakura she needed to "put the bitch in her place", she should have tried calming her. Damn it, they were best friends. How couldn't she notice the difference?

Sasuke knew exactly why and it had him barely holding back his glare as he pulled Sakura away from the scene, sparing only a glance at the bloodied and beaten girl who was unable to stand by herself. Ino enjoyed the new version of Sakura. In her words, she was more fun. The life of the party now, or something along those lines. She encouraged Sakura's recent behaviour. They were the most popular girls in the school, with Sakura's antics boosting their popularity and keeping them on top.

"What the hell has gotten into you?" he couldn't help but hiss in her ear.

If he hadn't stepped in, she would've moved onto the other girls who'd been bitching about her. They could all see it in her eyes – a distant yet hateful expression. Naruto was trying to help in separating the two, but once he realised he was of no use to Sakura, he checked on the other girl, asking if she needed help getting to the nurse's office. Like himself, Naruto didn't encourage or tolerate bullying. Friend or not, they would not side with Sakura for her actions. They were disgusting and unjustifiable.

There was no shock on her features as she stared the girls down coldly. No regret or horror. She looked almost bored.

"I felt like destroying something."

Fuck.

Realising he really had to get her out of there, Sasuke tugged on her harder, not surprised to find there was no resistance. What was he supposed to do with her? The last thing he wanted to do was control her, but what else could he do?

As soon as they reached the offices, despite the new rules, he shoved Sakura into the only vacant one and shut the door behind them, settling her with a fierce glower. Like Naruto, he was against bullying. While they had provoked Sakura, that girl didn't deserve such a beating. Not over something so petty. And before all the bullshit between her and Naruto, Sakura had felt the same way. The old Sakura would've been disgusted with herself for what she'd just done.

"Sasuke-kun, I…" She sighed tiredly and rubbed her temple. "We shouldn't be in here together."

He didn't give a fuck about the new rule. He didn't care that it was their fault there had to be new rules. "Don't try getting out of this," he warned coldly. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"I wasn't," she snapped in return, probably realising there was no escaping his interrogation. "They were listening to us having sex the other night, Sasuke-kun. And it wasn't you they were bitching about – it was me."

"And that gives you the right to beat the shit out of some kid?"

She pushed away from the desk, glaring at him angrily. He hated to admit that it had his blood boiling with excitement and arousal. "Like Ino said: I had to put her in her place."

"Don't raise your voice at me," muttered Sasuke seriously. Like hell he'd put up with that bullshit. He wasn't one of her followers who hung on her every word. "Since when do you listen to what Ino tells you to do? Since when did you lay back and let her walk all over you?" It was hypocritical of him to warn her not to yell at him when he ended up doing the same, but damn it, he was so angry with her. "Since when the hell did I like someone who was so weak as to rely on someone else to give them orders, huh?"

A soft blush graced her cheeks as she tilted her head to the side, silently gaping at him for a moment before shaking her head in disbelief. "You… like me?"

What the hell kind of question was that? Why would he sleep with someone he didn't even like? "Do you really think I'm capable of-"

The sudden opening of the office door had them flinching and Sasuke prepared himself for all hell to break loose, since it was the second time in just a week that they were caught together in an office. Shit, how did he let Sakura get the best of him again?

"My, my, what have we got here?" asked the teacher with a sigh. Stepping further into the office, he pressed a hand to his masked chin, shutting his eyes thoughtfully. "I could have sworn this office was assigned to me." When his eyes reopened, he looked at them with clear disdain, head tipping back to look down his nose at them and his hand dropped to his side while he demanded, "So why are you in here?"

A new teacher, perhaps? He was by far the scruffiest in appearance, what with his silver hair that looked as though it'd never seen a hairbrush, and his rolled up sleeves on his partially unbuttoned, untucked shirt. To go with the shirt, he wore a loose tie. Sasuke wished him luck in earning the other teachers' respect looking like that, never mind the students'. They weren't going to take someone like that seriously.

"We were just on our way out," Sasuke replied.

When they turned to leave, however, the man placed a hand on the door, blocking the exit. He was annoyed to find that there was a significant height difference between them. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked, then hummed questioningly when only silence met him.

"Sorry, Sensei," Sakura surprised him by saying sweetly, coming to stand between them. He couldn't see what expression was on her face, but Sasuke had a feeling it was similar to the one she used on Itachi to get her own way. He held back the urge to laugh at her stupidity. Like that would work on a teacher, the idiot. "I've gotten so used to this office being vacant – it's always been used to try and calm me down, you see."

"Oh?" he asked, sounding thoughtful. "I suppose it has been empty for a while. However, it's in permanent use now, so unless you're coming here to grace me with your presence, I would appreciate it if you didn't use it for your own uses."

What? Sasuke couldn't believe what he was seeing or hearing. Surely that idiot teacher wasn't actually falling for her charm? Unless… Dark eyes narrowed and he resisted the urge to pull Sakura closer. The teacher was a pervert, wasn't he? That was why he gave in so easily to Sakura's sweet talk.

"Go, before the headmaster returns to show me around," he said, but just as they were leaving he asked, "Am I right to assume your name is Haruno Sakura?"

She paused, head tilting. "How did you know?"

He smiled cheerfully. "It doesn't matter how I know. What matters is: if you lie to me again, Sakura-chan, the punishment will be severe."

…Sadist, Sasuke thought and he could tell his thoughts were in sync with Sakura's, for she suddenly paled at the overly cheerful smile on the new teacher's otherwise cold face (even though he was wearing a mask, they could see tell by his eyes that he was smiling), scared at the thought of being caught in her lie.

"You may leave now," he told them, still smiling.

He wasn't in the mood to talk to Sakura after the run in with the perverted sadist. Instead, after leaving the office and entering the hall, he walked away without a backwards glance, ignoring Sakura as she called after him.

To hell with cleaning up her messes, he thought to himself bitterly. That horrible sting he'd experienced when she so callously… Sasuke gritted his teeth angrily, swinging the door open to the staircase with more force than necessary, scaring the crap out of a few first years. How could she think he'd sleep with someone he didn't like? That he didn't even like her?

"-bitch needs to calm down."

"I'd like to see her try and take the lot of us on."

"Yeah, I told my cousin about what happened and she said she'll meet us after school."

What?

Pretending not to be listening, Sasuke continued to walk up the stairs, inwardly smirking when they fell silent at the sight of him, each girl growing pale when his eyes met theirs. They were stood on the landing at the top of the stairs, huddled together in a corner. The girl Sakura had beaten was nowhere to be seen, no doubt she was in the nurse's office.

Just as he reached the doors to the corridor, he was stopped by one of the girls sneering, "See? They don't say shit when they're alone. They have to be in their little pack."

"We don't say shit when we're alone?" he repeated without pause, looking over his shoulder at them. They seemed uncertain at his sudden response, having believed he wouldn't say a thing. Shutting the door with a bang, he faced the group. "Invite whoever you want to meet Sakura after school, but I'm warning you: she went easy on your friend. I can't say she'll do the same for any of you if you go after her."

It didn't matter how infuriating she could be, Sasuke sure as hell wasn't going to stand back and let people walk all over her.

Taking a step closer when they looked ready to argue, he muttered, "And if Sakura doesn't do anything, I will."

She was his. Like hell he'd see her get hurt.

But how did he save her from herself?